diff --git a/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md b/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md
index 7887b6799a..15766a051c 100644
--- a/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ New versions of Shoelace are released as-needed and generally occur when a criti
 
 ## Next
 
+- Improved performance of `<sl-popup>` by waiting for the active state before spinning up the positioning library [#2179]
 - Fixed a bug in `<sl-select>` that made the suffix slot collide with the clear button [#2145]
 
 ## 2.17.0
diff --git a/src/components/popup/popup.component.ts b/src/components/popup/popup.component.ts
index 7fabb4f2f2..abeda890b9 100644
--- a/src/components/popup/popup.component.ts
+++ b/src/components/popup/popup.component.ts
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ export default class SlPopup extends ShoelaceElement {
     }
 
     // If the anchor is valid, start it up
-    if (this.anchorEl) {
+    if (this.anchorEl && this.active) {
       this.start();
     }
   }